HACS Lowers Tuition-Social Justice in Action

We all know the how expensive college tuition has gotten. We wonder ‘what happened’ and question whether or not a degree (undergraduate or graduate) is really worth it. I have three daughters in college, each of which have chosen fields that you won’t find on the list of ‘marketable degrees’. Many might think their choices are not ‘worth it,’ but I also suspect those same individuals don’t grasp the purpose of education and think that colleges are simply ‘businesses’ and students mere ‘consumers’.

Well Holy Apostles College and Seminary (a brick-and-mortar institution with a strong online program) offers an approach to education that doesn’t diminish the necessity for a livelihood, but also doesn’t treat it as the sole end of education. C.S Lewis identified the difference in The Abolition of Man where he distinguished between the type of education where adult birds teach the younger ones to fly, as opposed to the ones in which poultry keepers house young birds simply for purposes unknown to those young birds. In my own words, the one is bred, the other is bought. The later includes people who equate value with expensive tuition, and the former know the higher tuition sustains a bloated administration and smorgasbord meal plans. They do not critically consider what drives that ‘price tag’…which we know is not the benchmark of education.

So, in light of those brief remarks, how often does an institution of higher learning have an announcement that tuition is being ‘reduced’? Here’s some refreshing news from Dr. Sebastian Mahfood, Vice President of Administration for HACS….

Beginning July 1, a new tuition schedule will go into effect as follows:

All undergraduate courses will now be $320 per credit hour, or $960 per course (this is a decrease of $125 per credit hour, or $375 per course)

All graduate courses will now be $320 per credit hour, or $960 per course (this is a decrease of $30 per credit hour, or $90 per course)

These changes represent a recognition that undergraduates and graduates receive the same services (so there’s no great difference in the cost of our providing them to either classification of students) and that the increase in student numbers we’re expecting this academic year will offset the cost of the tuition savings. In short, we can afford to lower tuition while maintaining our excellence in education and services.

The reason why we’re lowering tuition, then, is simple – we believe that a debt-free student is a gift to the Church, so our endeavoring to ensure our students graduate as debt-free as possible is consonant with our mission to educate Catholic leaders for the purpose of evangelization.

Check out the HACS website and spread the news. As enrollment continues to increase, rather than increase profits, HACS is lowering tuition…that is social justice in action!

Stephen Bujno

DPS President

The opinions expressed by the DPS blog authors and those providing comments are theirs alone; they are not
necessarily the expressions or beliefs of either the Dead Philosophers Society or Holy Apostles College & Seminary.

Stephen Bujno teaches Moral Theology at Berks Catholic High School in Reading, PA. He also has owned and operated Bujno Pottery with this wife since 1991. Stephen is the President of the Dead Philosophers Society.
Stephen has a BA in Studio Art from Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA and an MA in Moral Theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, PA. He awarded an MA in Philosophy of the Human Person at Holy Apostles College and Seminary, where he volunteers as a tutor for the Online Writing Lab (OWL). He writes regularly and has been peer-reviewed published on the topics of liturgy, anthropology, and social justice.
He lives in Adamstown, PA with his wife of 26 years, Tina and two daughters, Christi, and Stephanie. His oldest daughter, Nicole, her husband Michael, and his two granddaughters Hannah and Aubrey live a short walk away…close enough for daily visits!